The Philippines registered a decline in its hunger rate for the second consecutive quarter, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations showed.
The SWS’ first quarter 2019 hunger rate survey showed that only 9.5 percent or an estimated 2.3-million families experienced “involuntary hunger” at least once in the past three months.
In other developments:
• President Rodrigo Duterte is tirelessly working to improve the socioeconomic status of the Filipinos, Malacañang said Thursday.
“The Chief Executive has been working tirelessly in improving the socioeconomic status of millions of Filipinos for them to lead a more comfortable, secure and prosperous life,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
He said the latest SWS survey, which showed a decline in the number of Filipinos experiencing hunger for two consecutive quarters, was a good start.
“Much have been done in the first three years and with a workaholic and compassionate leader at the helm, much more would be accomplished in the remainder of PRRD’s term,” he said.
• The economies of the Philippines’ 17 regions all grew in 2018, with Bicol expanding at the fastest clip and the National Capital Region accounting for a third of the entire economy.
The Bicol Region’s gross domestic product grew 8.9 percent last year, followed by Davao and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), which both brew by 8.6 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.
Metro Maniula accounted for 36 percent of the nation’s GDP followed by Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) with 17 percent and Central Luzon with 9.8 percent, the PSA said.
The latest SWS figures showed a decline from 10.5 percent, or an estimated 2.4-million families, who experienced involuntary hunger in the fourth quarter 2018 survey in December and the 13.3 percent or about 3.1-million families in the September 2018 survey.
Hunger significantly dropped by 6.6 points in Metro Manila, or from 18.3 percent in December 2018 to 11.7 percent in March 2019.
The hunger rate also declined by 2.2 percent in Mindanao, or from 8.3 percent in December 2018 to 6.1 percent in March 2019.
Balance Luzon and the Visayas tallied a little higher hunger rates with 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent increase, respectively.
The SWS survey, conducted from March 28 to 31, 2019, had 1,440 respondents and a sampling error margin of ±2.6 percent.